cuervosueno

Electra, your review really made me laugh because my good friend has a very silly cross-dressing german shepherd that we call the pretty princess....and we dress him in a pretty princess t-shirt which he loves....hmmm....perhaps I should have tried the unicorn out on him!

I got the Unicorn as a freebie....and I agree with what's been said. On me it smelled green and white....before I checked the notes, I imagined green tea, some aquatic note....it is a very soft floral but also green note....and its really perfect for the Unicorn...

Just not for me, miss-I-hate-aquatic-and-floral-notes.

so off it goes!

I got this on a whim. I was sure I would love Midwinter's Eve (I didn't) and then saw the descrip of this and got it on the basis of the musk, which turn lovely powdery on me, though I was worried about the floral notes and aquatic notes.

I'm glad I got this....Love it!

In the bottle I wasn't sure. It smelled fruity, like frozen fruit, rather than floral to me. And it did have just a hint of mint...but seemed kind of minty-toothpastey, if you know what I mean.

but on? Just gorgeous!

And yes, its a bit floral...that comes out on the skin on me. but like white flowers frozen....so the scent is subtle. And like others have noticed the musk isn't as warm as they can be...rather cool musk too. there is something green in there...must be the pine, but again, not biting, but the cold scent of snow on a pine tree.

Best of all, it turns lovely sweet on me...vanilla?....and it lasts and lasts. But it morphs...the cool floral green dissipates quickly on me, but when I woke up one morning I could still catch a sniff of it on my wrists, and by that time it had turned pure sweet, similiar but lighter and whiter (if that makes sense) to my much loved Dia de los muertos.

I picked up a bottle of Skadi at black broom as a gift, and did note the similiarities, but I didn't wear the Skadi--just sniffed it--so I can't compare how they wear on me...but I know I love this, so I'm guessing Skadi will be as lovely...in fact, I'd better beg my friend to let me try so of it!

thanks beth, this is a truly lovely winter blend, and it really made my birthday, since I wasn't so taken with midwinter's eve.

edited to add: well, I obviously loved it at first, but then I just never put it on again, and when I did, I wasn't so taken with it...it seemed a bit too floral/fruity and faded too fast--or at least the notes I like did. So I ended up swapping it. And I ended up liking skadi much more!

I so wanted to love this.

My birthday is Dec. 21, so of course I thought this was the perfect scent for me, and miraculously, my bpal yule order arrived on my birthday on my way to a lovely spa day in santa fe...so I loaded up the package and hit the road.

and it was the perfect day....snowy and lovely.....and I opened up the pack...sniffed....

Sigh.

I knew it wouldn't work. I agree with Penance...for me it smelled like fruit punch even in the bottle. or jolly ranchers...can't remember who noted that, but I agree.

Still, I gamely put it on.

And? It smelled like overly sweet fruit on me. Berries, definitely. But I like some berryish blends....not this one. Just too sweet, too fruity, and faded fast.

But I wasn't too disappointed....I also had Ice Queen which I'd bought on a whim and adore and hearth and cereberus too in 5 mls. and a lovely intoxicating of imp of centozon totochtin....so it was the best birthday I could ask for anyway!

And I've passed the midwinter's eve on to a more appreciative wearer....

Oh my gods and goddesses! Read me lovestruck!

Not that I'm getting jaded...but maybe I am. Its been awhile since a BPAL scent hit me so hard. I absolutely love this, and it is like nothing else I have.

First let me set the introductory scene for you. My birthday,Dec 21, spent with a good friend at a lovely spa in Santa Fe. To top of the day, I get my solstice BPAL order, which among other things contains Midwinter's Eve, Hearth, Cerebus, Ice Queen. I'm smelling them all, and then I'm bowled over by the imp of Centzon.

For me, it starts of cocoa, yes, unsweetened, powdered cocoa, but also coffee with cream. And a sweet note too...not as sweet as the brown-sugary notes of my beloved dia de los muertos, but sweet nonetheless. Its later that the sweetness fades some and I get the definite bloom of rum or red wine...something rich and alcoholic, anyway. I don't smell the dragon's blood myself--is that in there?--but it blends to something sweet and deliciously indescribable.

On me, this becomes a sweet, warm brown mix, comforting and seductive in a way that suggests warmth and richness.

I adore it! More than anything else in that order, though it was a particularly great batch.

I immediately ordered a big bottle!

gotta have more. thank you beth and divine rabbits!

Yay! My first ever first review!

But I should say I'm having a particularly hard time picking out notes--this may be more about the Orisha than the scent.

I got this at Black Broom after trying a number of Orisha blends, and I admit I bought it mostly on scent alone. That said, let me include some info. on Chango/Shango. It's rather long, but it also includes the herbs/fruits associated with him, which might just be in the scent:

The god of thunder, fire, and masculine virility. Shangó is probably the most popular orisha in the Lukumí pantheon. This is probably influenced by the innumerable myths that describe his charming and virile nature and recount his multiple romantic adventures with different women.

Shangó despises lies and cheating. His anger is made evident through thunder and lightning. When he has been offended, he is a menacing storm and the lightning bolt executes his sentence. He is also an executioner for Olodumaré—he punishes those who have offended the Creator or broken any Divine dictates.

When Shangó possesses, he is an avid and masterful dancer. He brandishes his oshé— double-headed axe—through the air, symbolically slashing away at evil or the head of an enemy. He has a direct relationship with many orishas. Oba was his legitimate wife, but her lack of physical beauty distanced him. He found an equal in Oyá, his second wife and sidekick. Oyá and Shangó are so alike that they can be described as two faces of the same coin. The sensuous Oshún was his favorite wife. This is the only orisha that could manipulate Shangó into anything. When they meet in a wemilere, Shangó will almost always try to enchant Oshún and she ignores him with a seductive cynicism typical of the flirtatious orisha.

Chango

Saint: St. Barbara.

Day of the Week: Saturday. Friday is also popular. Huge parties are held in Chango's honor on December 4th, St. Barbara's day according to the Catholic calendar.

Sacrificial Foods: Chango is a glutton. He loves huge portions of corn meal and okra. Apples are his favorite fruit, and he likes pitahaya (cactus fruit). All his food should be heavily loaded with corojo butter. Chango drinks red wine in large quantities. His water should come from a pond.

Herbs: arabo rojo, cordoban, vacabuey, siguaraya Banyan tree, kapok tree, poplar, sorghum, clematis, hog plum, Cuban spurge, cashews, ironwood, mugwort, bran, climbing vines, bull's testicles, American spurge, leeks, pitahaya, plantains and bananas, red hamelias, Bermuda grass, royal palm, pine, lignum vitae, amansa guapo, pine nuts and apple trees among others.

The BPAL scent:

Definately fruity, but not as fruity as some of the other orisha blends I smelled. Its not a fruit I recognize, and smells rather tropical. I don't smell apples in it. There is something floral in there as well. I could smell just a hint--possibly--of red wine as well. it reminds me of being in the tropics, where the air smells fecund and green, sweet with some tropical flower (but not one I recognize like jasmine which doesn't work for me at all), and a hint of some luscious fruit like passionfruit or mango. its a very lush and sensual scent, but not sexual if that makes sense....ie. I associate sexual scents with musk/amber/cinnamon--something warm--and I'm getting more fruity/green/floral here. Maybe just a hint of muskiness beneath it all? It doesn't wear long on me--a couple of hours--and ends on a slightly fruity mostly sweet note. I actually like the drydown/fading stage most....it ends up sweet but not too sweet, maybe like red bananas...not too ripe and not as sweet as the white ones. maybe a hint of vanilla too.

Its not exactly what I'd think of if I think of Chango as the orisha of thunder and lightening, but if I think of it as representing his playboy nature, then it makes more sense. Or perhaps as a sacrifice to him as an Orisha?

Anyway, I'm glad I tried it--not sure I'll keep it, but it is definately an interesting scent, perhaps better for someone else.....

edited to add that if anyone is interested in a decant of this or swapping it outright, pm me....

I was so delighted to get this in the mail today...then very puzzled, because in the bottle, Samhain and Dia De Los Muertos smelled exactly the same.....I really wondered if there'd been a mix-up.

Maybe....I'm not entirely convinced that what I have labled dia de los muertos really is that...it so exactly matches everyone's descrips of Sugar Skull...

But on to Samhain.

I was beginning to think I was crazy, so I'm glad I read through all the reviews. I get no pine notes at all, no pumpkin. No apples..so far anyway, though its only been on for an hour.

What I do get is the creamy sweetness others mentioned. Very sweet, very creamy, with a definate powdery note which on me could be pachouli...sometimes it turns powdery on me. its lovely and light, but not at all what I expected, so I'm not disappointed I didn't get it for Samhain...it doesn't bring that to mind to me at all, but is rather a sweet baking smell I associate more with Christmas...though the powder adds some sophistication.

I'll add more later, see if it changes on me. It is lovely, and I really can't pick out any individual notes, but it is not at all what I expected from the description. Still, I see I'm not the only one who got a very different scent from what is described, so I guess its just my body chemistry.

eta: I wanted to add a note on how Samhain changes as it ages (and also as I've learned to pick out scents better). Here it is, Aug, almost a year later, and Samhain has become a favorite scent of mine. Definately no pachouli (what was I thinking?) but there is a slighty almost cinnamon note that is lovely--probably allspice because it is softer than cinnamon. But the biggest change is that this is very lovely and appley now--when I open the bottle and when I wear it I most definately get a spiced apple smell that is gorgeous. I LOVE Samhain!

Hmmm.....I love everyone's descriptions, but I'm seriously wondering if I got a mislabled bottle Mine smells very very much like the descriptions of sugar skull---brown sugar or maple syrup, little else.....no smokiness at all, no spiciness, no incense....

anyone else had this experience? If so, it could be my body chemistry, or it could, I suppose, simply be a mistake....

ADDED Jan. 2:

Long after my initial review, I decided to approach this again.

Its so fascinating to me how differently people react to these. In my initial review, I noted I smelled no tobacco or incense...but that it was very sugary on me and I wondered if I'd gotten sugar skull instead. Now I don't think so (though I'd love to try sugar skull). this is also nothing like Kali to me, which on me was like kool-aid--one of my least favorite scents.

On me, Dia is almost pure brown sugar, though I get a hint of chocolate too, esp. when I compare it too centzon totochtin. Pretty much nothing else comes out for me.

I used to say I disliked foody scents.

Wow, I was wrong.

I adore this.

It is my favorite BPAL scent so far, the one I really can't live without. I wear it virtually everynight before sleep...I find its dark sweetness absolutely comforting and lovely.

Oddly, I never wear it during the day, but it is my perfect bedtime scent....when I went to LA to visit family of the holidays I didn't bring it with me in the interest of packing light (and trying my new Yule scents) and I sorely missed it.

Please, please, please bring this one back! I'll buy a gallon too!

And if anyone wants to get rid of some, pm me! I just can't get enough of it!

I just smelled the sabbat oils I was lucky enough to have shared with me as decanted imps from generous forumites, cuz I was thinking that Mabon smelled a bit like Ace of Cups.

I was wrong. But I do think that Lugnasadh and Ace of Cups are actually fairly similiar in scent...at least one...sort of berry/cherry notes, though ace of cups is a bit more silvery, if that makes any sense.

And I've wondered for a long time if Twilight Alchemy lab was up and coming or what....so I hope it gets off the ground too....more sabbat and ritual oils! Yay!

Huh. I don't get any ginger in this, though I love ginger and would like to. Definately animalistic....so I'm not convinced there isn't civet in it...at least it has a hint of Deimos and Allegory and other scents containing civet. And musk usuallly turns powdery one me--which I like--and this hasn't.

It also has a nice wood note though...and I can smell something very lightly citrusy...Its nice and very strong, but I can understand the bad reactions to it too...I'm kind of reacting to it like I do to caramel made from goats milk...I think I either love it or hate it...let me try it again....

Can't speak for its efficacy...only me and my dogs here at the moment....

Well, I'm posting this on the day I read that all the celestials will be discontinued, but for those who might still want another review, I want to add that I also get the lovely woody notes in this, and note its seriousness, but one thing I noted that others haven't mentioned is that I'm sure there is civet in this. Civet is one that overpowers other scents for me...and comes up just civet, which on me, luckily, doesn't have the bad scents it does for others. Its commanding and wild, but not bad.....

an addition: couple of hours later it smells just like pot on me, like my old teenage days when I smelled like this constantly.....so I guess it doesn't inspire authority in me

I got this as an extra--I knew from the descrip. I wouldn't order it myself.

And? Well, yes, like everyone says it smells like dirt. But not a lovely earthy smell to me, I'm afraid, but.....BEETS! I hate beets! It smells so much like beets to me that I recapped it right away....didn't even get the rose scent.

and in a way, the beet thing makes sense....if you wanted to get essence of dirt, what better way to get it than with beets, that both taste and smell like dirt. (At least to me!)

too bad...I love zombie movies and love the name, but.....

and you know, it is pretty zombie-ish, at that....

Pre-BPAL, frankincense and myhrr were my favorite signature scents. I usually wore them separately, sometimes blended them.

so I knew I'd love this, and ordered a small bottle without testing it.

Why oh why didn't it work on me?

so sad....instead of smelling like myhrr I love--a lovely resiny tree smell--or like frankincense--golden sweetness--this smelled dark, heavy with an overpowering dirt smell.

What cruel trick has my body chemistry played on me? Obviously others aren't gettting that smell.

then I decided it might be ok mixed with something to sweeten it up--say, "O"--but no, that didn't work either.

and yet I love many other BPAL scents with these notes in them.....

oh well, maybe someone will want to swap for a 5 ml of this......

My Chaos Theory is number LXXXV.  This is the most complex scent I've tried to breakdown.  It's gorgeous...

 

This starts out with a faintly aquatic note. As it dries a very light floral starts to rise to the top, gardenia (I'm thinking this because it reminds me very much of Old New Orleans but not as sweet)

 

The longer I wear this a very light spiciness comes up.  Carnation, with a light myrrh undertone. 

 

This a beautiful dreamy soft scent.  Floral with spicieness!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I got an imp of this Chaos theory from fairywingmaker in a swap for my chaos theory---thanks! this one works much better for me. I agree with the faintly aquatic note, and then it does become floral....I'm wondering if it might be white ginger? I say that rather than gardenia because gardenia is pretty overwhelming to my nose (as in the sacred whore of babylon) and this has the spice and sweetness, but not that sort of overthetop floral note.... Its a bit less spicy on me...carnation notes are faint, but it is a nice light floral, which actually works on me...

and the anise of the earlier chaos theory--anise as in the licorice smelling seeds....funny, isn't it, how different that scent played out on different people....

anyway, I was delighted to be able to try this!

I also got this as a freebie, and love it.

My first thought was, ah, honeyed almonds like queen of sheba and voodoo (both of which I adore), but I realized it smells a bit different...vanilla, as others have mentioned? Either way, for me it has a lovely honeyed, creamy golden smell that does, in my mind, evoke a horn of plenty...something overflowing with delicious golden things...

It fades, on me, to slight golden vanilla powder. I too wondered if it had honeysuckle in it, but if it doesn, it isn't overpowering.

I'm mindful that this is a voodoo blend. While I certainly could use the pure material aspects of prosperity, I chose to think of it as more a general sort of riches in life, an overflowing cornucopia of desired things...and what I got, after wearing it, was lots more love/friendship possibilities...more important to me that straight cash (though that, would, of course, pay for my BPAL addiction)

So it does what it should for me...kept me in mind of riches, of lovely golden possibilities, and yeah, it smells really good too. I'll be getting a bottle of this...

ADDED Nov. 8:

I can't really add anything new, but I'm writing because I absolutely LOVE this!

Like everyone else, I note the sweet almond notes, then vanilla and/or honey. It stays that way on me...and is one of my alltime favorite BPAL scents. I do believe that it works in bringing a sort plenty to me, though not, so far as money...

This one IS interesting! It's amazing how different it smells on different people and how it morphs.

for me, from the bottle, I get a bit a bit of that cold smoke people were talking about, and a clean greenish note...could be vetiver, but I wasn't entirely convinced it was....and yes, definately a lemony/soapy smell too.

My friend smelling with me didn't like it out of the bottle at all. She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

But when I put it on?

Hardly any smoky notes at all. At first, the lemon soap came out strongly, but as my friend noted, its not that bad

After an hour or so, it turned quite lemony on me...in a clean, true lemon way, nothing of the cleaning product in it. Now (about 5 hours later) its faded to a slightly sweet powder....

Amazing! It is like a djinn.....in the bottle it appears to be one thing, then it changes into something quite different....and in my case, a lucky change....

now do I get three wishes?

This was a freebie, which was cool because I'd been wanting to try it.

In the bottle: Nope, I wasn't thrilled, because it was very strongly floral to me. jasmine, definately jasmine, which I like in a flower, but not on me.

But it morphed on my skin instantly to sweet powder, and yes I see both the sweet white cake imagery and the baby powder.

funny thing? I like it. the jasmine is softened by the powder smell--could that be a type of musk?

Now if it just does what it is supposed to do....

I have chao theory LXXXIII

first, I love the idea, and am glad I got it, even though, sadly, the scent absolutely does not work on me.

In the bottle: cherry cough syrup, with something much more appealing down under there. When I first opened my package from the lab, what I smelled was something cherry ciderish, which made me think of lughnasadh, the limited edition I have an imp of from a swap (and am so so sad I didn't get a bottle of!) None of my other bottles or imps smelled like this, so it was from the Chaos theory...

So I put it on....immediate reaction: yikes! cherry cough syrup mixed with anise. anise is one of my least favorite scents, so I wasn't pleased....My friend who was with me said, optimistically, well, it's not THAT bad...but I could see by the look on her face that she really thought it was....

Still, knowing how the BPAL scent's can morph, I left it on. What it turned to on me was pure anise....just like a bowl of the seeds. Nothing else. Now, about 4 hours later, it has a faintly pleasing cherry-ish, powderish scent and most of the anise is gone, but so is most of the scent....

so off to swap this one away, I'm afraid....its just to anisey for me!

oh well.....

I got this as an extra imp in my recent order and tried it yesterday. First scent--I liked it. It was rich wood tempered with sweetness, but not cloying. I could really smell the black cherries, which gave it a sensuousness I liked.

Drying it became a bit sweeter than I liked... so I gave it a couple of hours. it dried down less sweet and a bit powdery, which is something I like, but overall it was still a bit too sweet for me in the end. I'll probably use the imp, but don't think I'd get more.

That said, I was once told by a perfumer in New Orleans that I was one of those people whose body chemistry turn everything sweet--probably why I don't like florals as they usually becoming cloying on me. This is a nice balance of sweet and wood, and might work well on someone else.

It very much did characterize the Red Queen to me.....

I just got my imps ear of this. Was inspired to try it by reading these reviews. I often wear frankincense alone so I thought I'd try it even with the suspicious violet in it (I'm afraid I rarely like floral notes)

And I tried it for the first time tonight and loved it. On me what I noted most was cinnamon, though there was a sweetness that I attribute to the frankincense. It faded down to just the hint of floral, the violet..... Very very nice, but at least on this first try, it faded very quickly--is virtually gone now, just about 4 hours later.

I kept having an image in my head of someone dressed in a dark edwardian suit, with a flash of purple from the shirt underneath....it is a very elegant scent to me, and yet somehow devious....

I may get a bottle of this.

I got an imp of this as an extra in my very first BPAL order. At first, out of the bottle, I didn't like it at all. I thought it was too sharp and stronglygreen (the vetiver), and too masculine (though I usually prefer those scents...).

But I decided to give it a shot, even with what I first felt was an overpowering smell of leather.

In the end? I LOVE it! Bought a big bottle. It gets softer/sweeter as it fades, and perhaps its the musk that gives it, on me, a slightly sweet powder touch at the end.

and it lasts and lasts!

I wear it when I want to feel more of a bad-ass. Definately I'd wear it with my leather pants, but wearing Iago gives me the same feeling that the leather pants do: sexy, edgy, slightly dangerous.

I bet it would be gorgeous on a man too! It's dead-on sexy for anyone.

And now, on the recommendations here, I've just received Lovitar to give that a go as well!

I got this in my first order, before I had a sense of what notes I like.

What I discovered was I really do not like florals at all. I had thought perhaps the sandalwood and myhrr (to favorite notes of mine) would counteract the florals, but it didn't.

In the bottle I found it too heavy on the pachouli, but decided to try it anyway, hoping I'd like it better on my skin.

I didn't.

I was overwhelmed by the jasmine in particular at first. This did dry down a bit so I was able to smell the red wine notes later, but I mostly noted pachouli and jasmine.

My overall feeling was that of walking into a shop that reeked of floral incense....

interesting that on me, the sandalwood never showed up at all.

On my second try, I ended up washing it off.

But I definately am not a floral note person....most the scents I like best are the more "masculine" ones....

My thoughts on this are repeated from my original question about it on the what's this scent thread....I haven't completely figured out how the forum works so couldn't do the easy thing and quote myself

Out of the bottle and on it starts incredibly strong. The scent to me is harsh almost metallic, and very familiar....but I can't identify it. Its not pleasant...and my friend who I was trying these with suggested I wash it off, but I decided to let it dry down and see what it was like.

After about an hour, the initial top note wore off and I could smell....pachouli maybe? Now its been on for several hours and it has begun to smell a bit green to me as it did for tart....and definately something dark!

Its like nothing I've smelled.

I don't think I'd wear it....it seems more serious somehow than a perfume, like something you'd wear in ritual work or to invoke....something I imagine it must be for the voodoo line, given the meaning of the word Obeah...

It is also strangely compelling....a bit hypnotic....all in all, I REALLY want to know what is in this.

I wouldn't buy a big bottle, but I'm very intrigued with the sample I got.

Thanks....I just found your postings...I hadn't tried the search on the forum yet....ok, so actually I didn't know there WAS one.... but had searched the BPAL site proper...

I'll say more on the obeah posting...

Hello,

I wondered about these mystery scents as well. I just got one called "Obeah" which I looked and looked for....thought I remembered seeing it somewhere earlier in the summer, but perhaps not. Anyway, I'd love to know what's in it, if anyone has any ideas. Its not something I'd wear--it struck me immediately as a serious scent...as for ritual work or something rather than as a perfume....It starts out with a very strong distinctive scent that is harsh, almost unpleasant, then fades to....pachouli perhaps?

Anyway, I'm very very curious about it. Anyone know anything about it?